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In this podcast episode, the host discusses the cultural integration of William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" through adaptations by Haruki Murakami and Lee Chang-dong. Both adaptations explore universal themes such as class struggle and societal expectations. They also highlight the impact of culture on individual identity and the expression of rage. The adaptations vary in their faithfulness to the original text and bring new dimensions to the narrative through metatextuality and intertextuality. These adaptations demonstrate how stories can transcend cultural boundaries and be reimagined in diverse settings. Yo, yo, yo. How are you guys doing today? It's your boy, Chris, and welcome to today's podcast episode. Today we will be diving into the fascinating world of cultural integration through the lens of William Faulkner's timeless classic, Barn Burning. We'll be exploring how this literary gem has undergone a transformative adaptation, giving rise to works such as Haruki Murakami's Barn Burning and Lee Chang-dong's Burning. We'll be taking a closer look at the unique approaches by both Murakami and Lee, and the way they reimagine Faulkner's narrative, as well as the ways in which each of these adaptations utilizes its culture to allow a new perspective or a new form of art, if you will. Murakami's version finds its home in Japan, while Lee Chang-dong's adaptation unfolds in the context of South Korea. Join us as we unravel the intricate threads that connect these adaptations to their respective cultural landscapes. Adapting a literary work from one culture context to another is no small feat. Get ready for a deep dive into the cultural tapestry of Barn Burning and the captivating ways in which it has been woven into the literary fabric of Japan and South Korea. Both adaptations, despite being rooted in different cultural contexts, grapple with universal themes such as class struggle, individual identity, and societal expectations. The process of cultural integration involves not only translating the narrative, but also infusing it with the cultural nuances that resonate with the new audience. The evidence of this cultural integration is seen in the changes in setting, character relationships, and thematic emphasis in each adaptation. Murakami and Lee Chang-dong, through their works, demonstrate the rich tapestry that emerges when a story transcends its original cultural boundaries and takes on a new life in diverse settings. Each setting directly affects the struggles experienced in each. In Faulkner's post-Civil War Southern America, where the Snopes family, particularly Abner Snopes, faces economic hardship and struggles with their social status. The Snopes family works as tenant farmers, a position that places them at the mercy of landowners. This economic dependence contributes to the sense of powerless and frustration that Abner Snopes feels. The story also highlights the injustice within the legal system, which is biased against the lower socio-economical class. Abner's encounters with the legal system underscore the challenges faced by those without economic power. In Burning, though, class struggle is portrayed within the context of South Korea's rapid economic development. The film explores the contrast between Jung-soo's rural background and Ben's affluent urban lifestyle. The love triangle involving Jung-soo, Haimae, and Ben is marked by the underlying power dynamics related to class. Haimae's attraction to Ben may be influenced by his economic status, adding another layer to the complexity of interpersonal relationships. The film captures the sense of alienation and discontent that can arise from economic disparities. Jung-soo's feelings about inadequacy and frustration reflect the broader social issues related to class struggle in South Korea. In Murakami, barn burning is a metaphor for the careless exploitation of the upper class against the lower class. The wealthy man already has everything he could ever want, but he still feels drawn to acts of destruction against the lower class, whether it be arson or murder. The message of the story is that the wealthy cannot help but take from the poor, even when there is nothing of value the poor can give. In Faulkner, barn burning as a concept works in the opposite way. It is an act of retaliation perpetrated by the otherwise disenfranchised poor against their oppressors. The father attacks his employers as payback for the indignity of working as a sharecropper, a position of indentured servitude. The father is a man so fully without agency that he acts out of violence as his only form of protest. The message of the story is that poverty and disenfranchisement can rob a man of his humanity, leaving him a husk of his rage and resentment. All three are affected by class struggles. I believe that this is a recurring theme across all three forms of literature. Hutchins explains this concept best. Therefore, an adaptation is a derivation that is not a derivative. A work that is second without being secondary, it is its own palimpsest thing. This quote shows that the theme of class struggle is a cultural recreation. A few moments later, Damon Lindelof states, quote-unquote, This transparency exposes how artists and everyone who contributes cultural content perform allegorical acts, meaning that they borrow from the past in order to develop something new. The way in which culture affects each of our characters' individual identities is quite astonishing. A difference because of culture. Traditional gender roles in Japan and South Korea have historically influenced individual identity. While there have been shifts in the recent years, especially in urban areas, societal expectations regarding gender roles and behaviors continue to impact how individuals perceive themselves. This is evident when no one looks for poor man's girlfriend or even high me. A individual identity that is apparent in each of our versions is rage. Rage is experienced one way or another in each. Jang Soo is frustrated with his life and aspiring to become a writer. He struggles with his circumstances, both economically and romantically. Jang Soo becomes increasingly jealous as he perceives a growing connection between high me and Ben. His jealousy is fueled by a sense of competition and an underlying feeling of inferiority. Abner Snopes harbors deep-seated anger and resentment towards society, particularly those who he perceives as his social superiors. His rage is often directed at those who challenge his sense of pride and autonomy. The rich man in Murakami's piece also shows his rage. We see this by him burning bars. Basically, tracing the violent genealogy of silenced rage from Lee to Murakami to Faulkner reveals what these stories from different historical periods, genres, and cultures tell us about how rage can be crafted against systems that create increasingly unequal societal conditions on a global scale. Following rage as it travels from the United States through Japan to Korea, the previous two points relate to the way in which culture affects the plot of each story. The next point I will talk about is the way adaptation of culture creates a notion of fidelity. Stem's essay has both stimulated and responded to a new wave of critical interest in adaptation studies and how it impacts narrative theory, film reception, and gender studies. Stem's concerns with the textual and cultural dialogues of narrative open out to the larger cultural interactions and exchange described by scholars such as John Berger. While there are adaptations in existence, the degree of faithfulness to the original text can vary. Adaptations often involve choices made by directors, screenwriters, and other creators to bring the story to a new medium. These choices can impact the interpretation and reception of the work. It's always interesting to compare the original text with its adaptations to understand how different artists engage with and transform the social material. In this case, I believe that Murakami uses Faulkner's ideas of class struggle in society in his own way through Japanese culture and South Korean culture for Lee. Stem suggests that adaptation should be seen as a process of translation and transformative, where the adapted work engages in a continuous dialogue with the source material. This dialogic relationship involves not only fidelity but also creative reinterpretation, cultural influences, historical text, and intertextuality. The plots relate to intertextuality through the process of reinterpretation and commentary. Each layer adds a new dimension to the narrative, combining to a broader discourse on cultural exchange, artistic interpretation, and the timeless themes explored in Faulkner's original work. First is metatextuality. Murakami's adaptation brings a metatextual layer to the original story. He recontextualizes Faulkner's narrative within a Japanese cultural framework while maintaining the core themes. Murakami introduces his own literary style, character nuances, and cultural references. The adaptation becomes a commentary of Faulkner's work and an exploration of how universal themes can be reimagined in a different cultural context. Lee Chang-dong's film adds another layer of metatextuality as well. It visually interprets Murakami's adaptation, transforming the narrative from literature to cinema. The way in which the director decides to create the film, choices of cinematography, pacing, and visual symbolism contribute to the metatextuality commentary on both Faulkner's original and Murakami's adaptation. The film becomes a reflection on storytelling mediums, incorporating director's artistic vision into the narrative. The intertextual relationship between these works create layers of meaning and interpretation. Each adaptation responds to the previous text, offering a new perspective and contributing to a broader literary and cultural conversation. The intertextuality is not a linear progression but a dynamic, multidirectional exchange of ideas and artistic expressions. In Murakami's adaptation, the paratextual elements extend beyond the narrative itself. The fact that Murakami chose to adapt Faulkner's work is a paratextual choice that brings the culture and literary context of Japan's author into the mix. The cover art, book design, and any forewords or afterwords by Murakami also contribute to the paratext offering readers additional layers of interpretation. For Lee Chang-dong, he introduces a new set of paratextual elements. The visual style, cinematography, and the soundtrack become crucial pretext components that shape the viewer's experience. Each version of the narrative, Faulkner's story, Murakami's adaptation, and Lee Chang-dong's film serves as a node in the hypertextual network connected to the others. In the case of Architecturality, the progression involves a continuous engagement with the narrative and thematic elements introduced by Faulkner's original barn burning. In each subsequent work, a foundation is built upon by the previous text, adapting, interpreting, and transforming the story within the context of its own literary or cinematic tradition. The Architecturality connects the works across different mediums and cultural perspectives, highlighting the evolution and reinterpretation of a narrative within a broader literary and cinematic lineage. In conclusion, culture is such a strong pretext. Clearly, we see the effects in Lee's burning, Murakami's barn burning. The way each of these versions can be seen as an individual work and a work deeply connected is because of the cultural integration of each piece. Under Stam's definition of adaptation, these fit beautifully. Enjoy.